School Friends
by SilverMoonForever
Summary: It's been 3 yrs since Mai had confessed to Naru about how she feels, and now she's a freshmen in college. How will the tides shift when a new transfer student enters her class and SPR gets a case at a summer home by the sea? The only question really left is will SPR sink or swim. (Connection to Gene's Angel)
1. Chapter 1

**Me: Yay, another story! XD**

**Naru: *rolls eyes* Joy.**

**Gene: Oh come on little bro, it'll be fun to see what she comes up with.**

**Mai: Yep!**

**Naru: I don't care about what that idiot does; I just want to be left alone.**

**Me: Fine then you big meanie!**

**Mai: Um, well Silver doesn't own Ghost Hunt.**

**Gene: Please R&R!**

**Mai's POV:**

"Made it!" I exclaimed, bursting through my classroom door. Just as the bell rang for the beginning of class, I sat down in my chair in utter exhaustion.

"You're cutting it kinda close there Mai." Michiru said, as she and Keiko walked over to their desks before the homeroom Sensei walked in. They sat down and shot me a worried look which I replied with a thumb's up. This was our morning routine after all. I'm always late because I sleep in due to Naru not letting me go home until all the files are done, or until it's midnight, thus making me run at top speed to get to school not only before they close the school gates, but also before Sensei comes into the classroom.

"Class, starting today we will have a new transfer student with us. She just came back from America, and hasn't had a chance to adjust to the culture shock of the difference yet. Please make her feel welcomed and help her out if she needs it." Sensei then turned to the opened classroom door and smiled warmly. "Come on in dear and introduce yourself to the class."

After a few moments of hesitation, a girl walked into the room, stopping all of the whispers into dead silence as she made her way over to the platform that Sensei was on. All that we could really see of her was a black guitar case slung around her back, blocking her from our line of vision. The girl then turned around and wrote her name on the board. When she went back and faced the class we got our first real glance at the new girl.

She was petite, and maybe a little taller than I was. She didn't seem to have the school uniform just yet, so she was in jeans, a cut up hot pink and black graphic-t, knee high black combat boots. Her hair was a light brown shade that shone copper in the faint sun light. It was in a high ponytail that's been teased and showed off that she had the tips of her hair dyed red. As if that didn't give her an edge, she also wore a collar around her neck that had chains and charms hanging from it to give it more of a choker feel to it.

"This is Kaguya-chan. Would you like to say anything about yourself dear?" Kaguya looked around the room with an analyzing eye and then looked over to Sensei.

"No."

"I see, well you will be sitting next to Taniyama, Mai. Mai, please help her out and share your books with her." Sensei said, sweat dropping at how cold the new student was being. In all honesty, it kinda reminded me of how Naru can be, but for some reason she also reminded me of Kazai.

"Hai Sensei." I said, standing up so that Kaguya knew who I was. She looked over at me and we made eye contact, causing my heart to freeze in my chest. She had amber eyes that seemed to glow, but had an icy edge to them. Before I knew it, she was standing next to me and taking her seat. I quickly followed suit and sat down as well. Once we were both seated, Sensei began class and my eyes wandered over to the new girl. She was busy taking notes, but then sighed and placed her pencil down only to look directly at me. She raised a brow, causing me to gulp nervously. She must have felt my stare and now I had to start a conversation to avoid being looked at like a weirdo.

"So, you're from America?" I began, sweat dropping slightly at my opening line. She simple stared at me and nodded with a blank look in her eye.

"Yeah."

"What's it like?"

"Like anywhere. Nothing special." She stated, looking back at the board and taking down more notes. Her cold demeanor caused a shiver to run up my spine.

"I see. Do you like Japan?" I asked, feeling my eyebrow twitch slightly in nervousness as what she would say.

"I guess."

'_Someone save me!'_ I thought, looking out the window as tears rolled down my eyes at my situation.

~*~Time Skip~*~

"I thought that would never end." I stated, oh so very glad that lunch break had come and that we were allowed to walk around and not have to be in our seats until the bell rang. Currently I was by the window looking out, not wanting to be next to the new girl as she simple stayed at her desk and read. She really did remind me a lot about Naru, but I had a feeling that this wasn't the real her. Before I could think any more on the subject, I felt two arms wrap around e in a hug.

"Mai, you okay?" Michi asked, coming up next to me. I looked behind me and found that it was Keiko that had hugged me, and a smile spread across my face as I took comfort in my two friends.

"Yeah, you look like one of the ghosts you and your team hunts." Keiko added, looking at me worriedly.

"I'm fine. It's just really hard to talk to the new girl. She could probably give Naru a run for his money." I stated, meaning that completely. I may not know her too well, but if she acted like this all the time, then she and Naru would either be best of friends, or worst of enemies. _'Now if only she were into the supernatural and had a huge vocabulary that she could use against Naru.'_ I thought, imagining how that would work out in my head. If I ever became friends with her that is.

"Wow, is she really that distant?" Keiko questioned, looking at me with wide eyes.

"Kei, just look at her. She screams rebel chick and danger. Also, what is up with that guitar case she brought with her?" Michi asked, eye Kaguya as she examined her by every inch.

"I guess you're right. Maybe she's just shy? It is her first day after all." I defended, glancing over at her as she simply read her book and ignored the rest of the class.

"True, but the aura she gives off defiantly screams keep-the-hell-away-from-me." Michiru said, turning her attention back to the two of us.

"But still." As Michiru and Keiko continued to converse about whether or not the new girl was really a rebel, I went back to my desk and focused on eating lunch and listened to my I-pod (SPR gave it to me as a collective birthday present). I decided to listen to some country pop and just chilled as the playlist ran.

After listening to a couple songs, the song that my mother used to sing to me popped up into my head and wouldn't leave me alone, (You see, it wasn't a song that was played on the radio. My mom was a part of a girl band back in the day and recorded their songs onto CD's, and only those people in the band had a copy of the CD. Mom kept them really well kept, so I was able to download all of them onto my I-pod. I love to listen to her sing. She always sang a duet with this one other woman name Mei and sometimes the two other members of the band, Lu-la and Kiwa (even though Kiwa was their manager and only played the violin when it was necessary), sang with them; they complemented each other very well. Although they had a bunch of songs, only one song truly gave me a rush no matter what happened.) so I went through my Artist list, found Butterfly on the Moon, and then clicked on _19 and Crazy_. I closed my eyes as the instrumental pounded out of the one headphone in my ear, since I had to make sure that one ear was still open so I could still hear if someone called for me, and almost instantly the rush came over me.

_**This belly button dangle  
Will probably be just one of those things  
I won't be showing off too often at 65  
This butterfly tattoo  
Might be somethin' I tell my kids not to do  
Spring break shouldn't last the rest of your life  
There were things I should not have of done  
Then again, well I sure had fun  
**_

The melody and beat came over me, and somewhere along the first verse I began singing along with my mom, while at the same time trying to play air guitar. A gasp was heard, and I then opened my eyes to see what happened to find the transfer student looking at me with wide eyes. Before I knew it, she took her guitar case and brought out her guitar, then started to play along with the melody, completely taking me by surprise as I entered into the chorus.

_**Bein' free, bein' wild, bein' bulletproof  
Back then we were rebels without a clue  
Nothin' in the world that we wouldn't do  
Woah oh oh oh oh  
Didn't give a damn what people say  
We were doin' it, doin' it our way  
I wish that we could always stay  
19 and crazy  
**_

Before I could open my mouth to sing the next verse, Kaguya took over the vocals for Mei's part and continued playing the guitar. Once she began to sing, her eyes lit up and she really came alive. Just as if she had the same rush that I did when I listened to the song. Following the pace and beat that she gave with her guitar, I picked up where my mom would have sang and we harmonized into a duet that could have rivaled my mom's.

_**I fall in love with those guys  
That keep my dad awake at night  
Runnin' his knife across a wet stone  
Maybe he hates their long hair  
The tattoos or the chains that they all wear  
Mostly he hates your black camero  
We were young, so in love  
And we still haven't grown up**_

**Bein' free, bein' wild, bein' bulletproof**  
**Back then we were rebels without a clue**  
**Nothin' in the world that we wouldn't do**  
**Woah oh oh oh oh**  
**Didn't give a damn what people say**  
**We were doin' it, doin' it our way**  
**I wish we could always stay**  
**19 and crazy**

**Oh the only things that I regret are things that we didn't do**  
**Those crazy days that I have left**  
**Have led me here to you**

Somehow during our song, we ended up moving closer and our voices projected louder. I even took out my headphone because the quality of our voices was better than that of the CD. Kaguya was also now sitting on her desk to be able to play her guitar easier. It all led up to the climax of the song and we continued to follow the voice parts of which we chose from the beginning and followed it to a T.

_**Bein' free, bein' wild, bein' bulletproof  
Right now we're rebels without a clue  
Nothin' in the world that we can't do  
Woah oh oh oh oh  
Don't give a damn what people say  
Cause we're doin' it, doin' it our way  
I know that we will always stay  
19 and crazy  
Promise me we will always stay  
19 and crazy**_

The classroom, which I only realized now was dead silent, had erupted into cheers, and even students from other classes had gathered around the doorway to hear our song. Immediately I became embarrassed at what had happened and shrunk down in my seat a bit, but Kaguya on the other hand simply put her guitar away and paid them no mind. Eventually things settled down and we were left alone. After we were praised and questioned about the music that is. When I was finally able to calm down, my mind then processed what had happened and the question of where Kaguya had heard that song and had learned how to play it came to mind.

"How did you know the song?" I asked, taking her attention away from the book she had been reading once the duet was done with. A smile and raised brow was my replay as she put her book down and leaned back on her chair to get comfortable.

"Funny, that's what I was gonna ask you." She asked eyeing me up. Her smile widened farther and she pulled up her shirt to reveal two crescent moons that looked like butterfly wings and had two star antennas at the top of it on her left hip drawn in with sharpie. My eyes widened at the image. Not only was it cute and unexpected, but it also just so happened to be the symbol for Butterfly on the Moon. "My mom was the guitarist and one of the lead vocalists for the band. You might have heard of her. She's Mei Shen. What about you?"

"My mom was the other lead vocalist and played bass for the band." I explained, causing a pondering look to spread across her face. It was funny, cause it reminded me of Naru's as she held her chin in her hand and looked down while she thought.

"Miyano?" she asked, her eyes sparkling as her smile widened.

"Yep."

"Nice, so how is she?" she questioned, placing her head in her hands, looking at me with a curious expression on her face. This caused a pain to shoot into my chest as the memory of losing both my parents came into mind.

"She's dead. She died of cancer a couple years after my dad died in an accident." I stated, feeling my emotions dropping as the funerals for both of them ran through my head.

"I'm sorry, my mum and daddy passed away in a car crash." She stated, cause my head to jerk up and look at her with wide eyes. She had a sad smile on her face, but it soon went away as fast as it came and she smiled happily right back at me, only a slight blush rose up onto her cheeks. "Sorry I was so cold when I first came here. I'm just really nervous about the move and leaving all my friends behind." She explained, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment. This took be slightly by surprise, but at the same time, I knew that she was shy, and who could blame her. I'd have acted the same, except maybe not as cold, if I were in her position.

"Then let's be friends." I stated, smiling back at her. Then I paused and took a moment as another though came up into my mind. "Well, since our moms were friends and if they were alive then we'd technically be family friends so-"

"Yeah, I'd like that." She said, cutting me off as another smile lit up her face.

"So, why did you move to Japan?" I asked, deciding that now I would actually get some answers instead of the cold shoulder like before when I first talked to her.

"Well, I was studying abroad for a couple of years. That and my Aunt, oh she took me in after my parents passed, had finished her project over there and we came back here." She explained, causing my respects for her to rise up at the mention of studying abroad. _'Maybe she could be a rival for Naru and his smarts if she was already studying abroad for the first couple of years before college.'_ I realized, smiling happily at my little discovery.

"Do you travel a lot?"

"Yes and no. Yes we travel every couple of years to a different country, but it's either China, Japan, America, or Lithuania."

"Lithuana?" I asked, raising a brow as the name rolled off my tongue. Kaguya simply laughed and shook her head at me.

"No, Lithuania. It's where my dad's from. My Aunt makes sure to keep me deeply cultured in my mixed ethnicities."

"What are you?"

"Well, I'm half Lithuanian, quarter Chinese, and quarter Japanese." She explained, causing my interests to shoot up once again at the mention of China.

"You're Chinese, do you speak any?"

"Yep."

"You'd probably get along well with Lin then." I mumbled, imagining how Lin would react to someone that he would assume to be Japanese to actually speak and be part Chinese.

"Who's Lin? Is he your boyfriend?" she asked, getting up close. I jumped up slightly at her proximity, but then once her words sunk in my face heated up and I waved my hands like no tomorrow.

"No! He's a guy I work with."

"Oh, I see." She sighed, pouting slightly as if upset, but then her face lit up once again and an evil glint reflected in her eyes. It was scary on how close it reminded me of Yasu which made me gulp slightly at this. "Do you have a boyfriend?" she asked slyly, causing me to fall slightly.

"Sadly, no." I stated, sighing at my misfortune as the memory of Naru turning me down when I confessed to him played through my head.

"Why not? You're super cute and friendly." She stated, pouting at my response. Her comment made me smile and I laughed slightly as my mood was lifted.

"Thanks, but the guy I like completely rejected me, and the worst part of all is that he's my boss so I have to see him every day."

"Ouch." She said, scrunching her face up.

"Yeah, so what about you?" I asked, giving her the exact same sly look that she gave me.

"Huh?" she questioned, tilting her head to the side, not following my train of thought.

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

"Yep!" she exclaimed, smiling brightly at the mention of him.

"What's he like?"

"Well, he's really sweet, and always knows when something is wrong. He's a couple of years older than me, but I like having a man holding me and not a little boy. He can be very sneaky and childish at times, which gets us into quite a few petty arguments, but when I need him he's always there and knows when to take a situation seriously and vice versa. Also, he has this ability to calm people down and to keep people from blowing up at each other with just a few sentences and then everything is all peaceful again. Although, he doesn't really seem like the type to be that way if you see him." She said, looking out the window lovingly. I had to admit that I was jealous. She was completely in love with someone, and they loved her back. Then there's me who got rejected and still loves the stupid guy.

"Why, what does he look like?" I asked, wondering who it was that stole her heart.

"He has black hair and gray-blue eyes. He's, like, maybe six inches taller than me. He also is a punk-rocker and has his tongue and ears pierced." She described, causing a delicious looking male to be painted in my mind.

"Sounds hot." I stated, really feeling the jealousy kicking in.

"Oh, he is. What about your crush?" she asked, directing the conversation off herself and back onto me. My eyes widened a little, but a small smile made its way on my lips.

"Has black hair, blue eyes, dresses in all black, about eight inches taller than me, is an absolute narcissist, work/tea-a-holic, emotionless, jerk that insults everyone and makes me argue with him over petty little things, and shows that he cares through his actions instead of his words since they're just a cold and sharp as his glares."

"Sounds like quite a catch." She said, smiling softly back at me with a gleam in her eyes.

"Yeah, you have no idea."

"Class, break is over get back into your seats and pull out you English book and turn to page 258." The new Sensei said, initiating the reaction of everyone else to return to their seats.

"Looks like we'll have to talk later Kaguya." I sighed, pouting at the interruption.

"Yeah, want to walk home with me Mai?"

"I have work." I said, sighing yet again, once more cursing that work-a-holic for ruining my social life. Then again though he did pay me well so I really can't complain.

"Then we'll walk together until we have to split and go our separate ways." She said, simply shrugging her shoulders as if it were no big deal.

"Sounds like a plan!" I agreed, extremely happy that we would still be able to talk. _'After all, it's not every day that I meet someone that's connected to my mother.'_ I thought, looking out the window once more as a feeling came over me telling me that today would be full of surprises and hopefully all of them good.

**Me: Yay, now to work on one of the other 2 stories I have to finish!**

**Naru: You need to finish 1 before you start another.**

**Me: I know, but this 1 is 1 that I've been wanting to write since the 5****th**** chapter in Blood Hound. *pouts***

**Gene: Well at least you have all of the chapters figured out for this one.**

**Me: YEP! ^_^**

**Mai: Please REVIEW!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Me: *gets on my hands and knees and bows down* I'm so sorry I haven't updated in so long! _**

**Naru: What poor excuse do you have this time?**

**Me: Um… laziness and family stuff? ^_^'**

**Mai: Well at least you worked on this and other chapters.**

**Gene: Silver doesn't own Ghost Hunt. Please R&R!**

**Mai's POV:**

"Oh my gods that problem was so easy!" Kaguya said, stretching her arms up to the sky as we exited the school building.

"I know, I can't believe that detective work is actually _that _easy." I agreed, following after her as we walked across the deserted campus to the street.

"Well, it's not necessarily easy, but for those who have solved a lot of mysteries it'll be that way." She countered, smiling as she made her way down the street with a small bounce to her step.

"True." That fact was very easily seen in class as we had finished as the first group and got to leave early as we finished the lesson. I knew that it was all thanks to Naru and work that I had learned the skills to get me an A in that class. No matter how much I wish I could take all the credit for myself. It was definably a bit of an ego blow, but then again I had developed the skills then and they've been helping me ever since.

"Where did you learn your detective skills?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. Her hair bounced at the notion and made the red tips shine in the sun. It was really interesting to see how different she looked when you got to know her a bit. At first she seemed like someone who would fight anyone at the drop of a hat, but now, she reminds me of a little fairy bouncing about and as social as a butterfly.

"Work." Kaguya nodded her head at me and smiled. "How about you, where did you learn?" I asked, wondering where she had gained such amazing skills for details from. Actually, if it wasn't for her great attention to detail then we wouldn't have finished as early as we did. She found all the clues and I put it all together like Naru usually did with my dreams. '_We're one hell of a team Kaguya and I.'_ I thought happily, glad that when we had to pair up for the assignment we had teamed up.

"My boyfriend, he's a part of the police force and does criminal profiling and detective work. I've helped him on some cases which is why I want to be a part of it too." She blushed softly at her confession as a soft smile formed on her lips. Looking at her I couldn't help but smile as well. It was clear to see that she held him in very high regards and truly cared for him as it showed whenever she talked about him. To tell the truth, it was cute and made me wonder if I would ever be able to be like that with someone.

"Wow, how old is he again?" I questioned, remembering that she never told me his age. It made me wonder just how big the age gap was between the two is he was already at work in the force doing some higher up work. She looked down at the sidewalk and blushed slightly, making me wonder just how big the gap was. In all actuality is scared me a bit, wondering if by some chance she had a sugar daddy, even though she didn't seem to be the type of girl to have one.

"He's two years older than me."

"So-"

"He's twenty one."

"And he already graduated college?!" I asked, completely surprised by this. Luckily it put my fears of her having a sugar daddy to bed, but made me question the inelegance level that I was at. _'First Naru's smarter than me in pretty much everything, and now Kaguya's boyfriend graduated college at the age where I barely got accepted in.'_

"Yep, he graduated when he was eighteen at the top of his class." She stated with pride, making my jaw drop.

"Wow, he reminds me of Naru." I said, remembering how Naru had become a college professor at the age of sixteen. It was one of the many things that made him Naru besides his good looks, and while it annoyed me to no end, he did have the right to bare his intelligence with pride. Just so long as he didn't rub it in other people's faces that is.

"Nar-who?" Her face scrunched in confusion at my nickname for my boss, and I couldn't help but giggle at her.

"Naru, my boss. His name is actually Kazuya, but I call him Naru because he's a narcissist." I explained, watching as her confused expression melted away to reveal understanding.

"I can see that, Kane can get full of himself too at times." A look of sympathy came on her face as she sighed softly. My brow rose for more than one reason, but I asked the question that seemed to be the most prominent in my mind.

"Kane?"

"My boyfriend, his name is Kazune, but I call him Kane for short." She explained, smiling happily at her little name, I couldn't help but giggle at her.

"Awe, that's so cute." I cooed, watching her blush once again. We continued on in silence until we got to the street that I had to go down to get to work. "Uh, sorry, this is as far as I go. The slave driver awaits me." I pouted at having to leave on this note where I wanted to know more. She had a similar expression on her face, but it soon turned into a smile as she turned to face me.

"Alright, well good luck. See you later?" she asked, holding her hand up as a smirk formed on her lips. Instantly I smirked back and grabbed it with a clap, remembering how my mother would tell about her hand shake with Kaguya's mother as we imitated it ourselves.

"Totally." I agreed, letting go as I turned tail and ran to the office. Stealing a quick look at my hello kitty wrist watch I saw that I was already five minutes late, and I curse my luck as I turned the corner. The hundred yard sprint to the front door of SPR added on another minute or so onto my tardiness and when I crashed through the door I was met with Naru's usual greeting.

"Mai, you're late. I need tea."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." I sighed, giving up on trying to get him to say 'hello' or 'good morning/afternoon/night' or 'nice to see you Mai'. As I put everything in its proper place, my typical routine went into play as I went into the kitchen and began to make Naru his tea and Lin his coffee. When the water began to come to a boil the bell to the door jingled telling us that we had a visitor. Not skipping a beat I came out with a smile and welcomed the person into the office. "Hello, and welcome to Shibuya Psychic Research. How can we help you?"

The person turned around from the coat rack where they hung up their blazer and I saw that it was a woman who seemed to be in her late forties that came to us today. She had light brown hair tied up into a bun and held up with a single chopstick and soul piercing dark brown eyes. Her attire was extremely professional as she was in a business suit and looked like she had just gotten out of a very important meeting.

She looked right at me and had a slightly nervous look about her as she responded back. "Um, there have been some issues where I live and I would like to have it checked out by your company."

"I see, please take a seat and the boss will be right out." I said, gesturing to one of the couches in the front room as I went over to Naru's lair. Out of the corner of my eye I saw her nod and do as I said, sitting down with her hands folded in her lap. On my way I knocked on Lin's door as our signal for a possible costumer, and then quickly made my way to the office of the evil overlord himself.

"Naru, we got a customer." I said peaking my head into his office. He looked up at me and nodded before getting up and following me out into the meeting room. When he came out the woman's eyes widened and her mouth dropped a bit.

"Ma'am?" Naru asked, raising a brow at her. She quickly shook her head and snapped out of her trance as a soft smile formed on her ruby lips.

"I'm sorry about that, you just remind me of someone I know. My name is Kiwa Shen." She said, standing up and bowing down to him in respect. Just at this time Lin had come out of his office with his laptop to record any important facts he found from this confrontation and paused at her name.

"Shen, that's Chinese isn't it?" Lin asked, perking up instantly at the name connection to his home land. Shen-san was slightly caught off guard, but smiled softly at him and nodded.

"Yes, my father was from China."

"I see, then your mother?"

"Is Japanese." She explained, now completely comfortable in our office where as just moments before she was nervous and completely closed off.

"If we're done with formalities may we please get on to the reason why you're here?" Naru interjected before anything else could be said along this topic that wasn't work related. It was always one of his pet peeves when the people who came into the office for help would talk about other things, mainly with me as I'm the most social out of the three of us, unless Yasu's in the mix; then it's quite often him then I. Shen-san blushed softly at her off topic conversation and bowed her head a bit in respect.

"Of course, I apologize for the side note. You see, I have a summer home along the coast by Niigata, and there have been some, incidents, that have happened around a cave there. It's technically not officially _on_ our property, but it _is_ owned by us. You see, people have gone missing of the camp grounds around there and then are found at this cave dead." She explained, causing my gut to clench a bit at the last part.

"Have you ever thought that it may just be drunken teenagers Ma'am?" He asked, making me agree that it sounded more of a job for the authorities to enforce curfews instead of something caused by the supernatural.

"That's what I always thought it was, but then things started happening at the house. Things will move, and at times you'll knocking on the door of the room you're in when no one else is in. The strangest one though is that you can hear crying at night coming from outside. Right by where the cave is actually." She said, peaking my interest a bit. In my mind it seemed to be that of a minor poltergeist, and it would most likely be a day or two to just cleanse the place and to have Masako talk the spirit into moving on. Naru shot me a look, and I shrugged, not seeing the harm in at least visiting to make sure that it was indeed something going on there. He sighed and then looked at Shen-san with his usual calm expression.

"I see, we will be there tomorrow morning at ten. Please leave your information with my assistant, Mai, she will inform you of what we will need during our stay." He said, getting up and leaving the open area in favor of his little lair. Lin quickly followed Naru's lead and went into his office leaving Shen-san and I alone in silence before she could even say anything else.

"My oh my, and he couldn't even stay for a 'Thank you very much'." She said, pouting slightly that made me laugh a bit at her attitude.

"Yeah, that's him for you, I'm Mai Taniyama, it's nice to meet you Shen-san." I said, smiling happily at her.

"Kiwa, call me anything else and I swear." She said, giving me a small grin that made me laugh a bit at her carefree personality. However, something told me that she would do something if I didn't call her that which made me sweatdrop a bit.

"Alright then, um, we'll need three rooms for our stay. One for base and two for sleeping." I explained as she wrote everything down in a little pink planer that she pulled out from her purse. Once she had written down what she needed she tore out a piece of it and handed it to me along with a key. I looked down and saw that it was all of her contact information, but I raised my brow at why she would give me the key if she was going to be there the whole time.

"Very well, I won't be in town when this is going on, so I'll leave you with the key. My niece and her boyfriend however will be arriving later that evening." She explained, shrugging it off as if it were nothing and all I could do was just nod in response to her. "Thank you again." And just like that she walked out of the office leaving me to my fate of having to go through the process of calling everyone up and getting Naru a cup of tea after each call. Sighing softly to myself I went over to my desk and picked up the phone.

"Mai, once you're done with the information call everyone and tell them of the case. Then go home and pack." Naru said, startling me just before I pressed the first digit in Monk's cell number. I whipped around to see him at the corner of my desk with his little black book of death in his hand. Sometimes I really wanted to hit him for sneaking up on me, but after a moment of contemplation I realized that it would be in my best interest to not do so, so instead I smiled and nodded at him.

"Yes sir." I saluted, already knowing the drill that we went through for each case we went through. He nodded at me and then headed back to his cave. When he was in the doorway however, he paused and looked back at me with a small smirk on his lips.

"And Mai."

"Yes?" I asked, praying that it wouldn't already be another request for tea, even though it most likely was in vain. Surprisingly enough it wasn't, but his response almost made me wish it was.

"Don't be late."

**Naru: Why did it take you so long to write this?**

**Me: I was experimenting with different styles and trying to evolve my writing…. It didn't go so well so I had to redo it once or twice in some places… -_-'**

**Gene: Well at least it shows you care.**

**Mai: Please Review everyone!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Me: Hey ya!**

**Naru: Didn't you just upload a chapter?**

**Me: I felt bad for depriving my readers for so long so I uploaded another one.**

**Mai: Yay Silver! Keep it up!**

**Gene: Silver doesn't own Ghost Hunt, Please R&R!**

**Mai's POV:**

My feet ached as I flew down the pavement to the office. My alarm clock had gone off an hour late, making it so that I had to skip breakfast after I took a five minute shower when I normally took at least fifteen. Luckily I had been smart enough to pack the day before, but it still didn't make all that much of a difference. It still ended up with me being at least fifteen minutes late. I looked down at my wristwatch and saw the time and sighed. _'Scratch that, I'm eighteen minutes late. '_I depanned, sighing to myself as I picked up my pace even more. When I turned round the bend to the office I saw everyone already outside with the vans all packed waiting for me.

"Mai, you're late again." Naru said, glaring daggers at me as I approached and slowed my sprint to a slow walk.

"Sorry Naru, I overslept." I panted, trying to regain my breath after the mile and a half sprint I just did with my duffle bag weighing me down the entire time.

I could feel the sweat drip down my face and chest as my tank top and shorts did little to help cool me down on this eighty-something degree spring day. I could already tell that my hair was a mess from the wind, and I wanted nothing more than to get into the air conditioned car and fall asleep. Unfortunately, before I could even put my bag in the van, two strong arms wrapped around me and pulled me into a painfully tight hug.

"You need to get a new alarm clock Jou-chan." The person hugging me said. Instantly my annoyed mood changed, and I giggled as my father figure twirled me around.

"Monk!" I exclaimed, laughing at his usual antics until a loud whapping sound was heard and I was dropped back onto my feet. Turning around I saw Monk squatting down and holding his head in pain as a fiery woman stood above him holding her red Gucci purse in a threatening manner.

"Don't strangle her you idiot!" Ayako scolded, glaring at him only for him to return it and stand up to tower over her, trying to use his height as an advantage to her violent outbursts against him.

"Hey! Watch it old lady!" He snapped back, getting in her face only to pale as she held up her purse to him once more.

"Now, now you two, let's not fight." John said, getting between the two arguing adults like always. His hands extended the distance between them and made it so that Ayako's purse couldn't hit Monk and would hit him instead if she even tried to. Monk must have realized this and knew that she wouldn't ever try to strike the priest for he smirked and crossed his arms confidently.

"Yeah, you heard John you crone."

"What did you say you cockroach!" she shouted, pushing past John with her purse raised to strike him.

Monk shrunk down and covered his head with his arms preparing for the impact of the heavy purse upon his skull, only for a cough to interrupt their fight. Both paused in their actions and looked to the source, only to see that it was Naru who was currently staring daggers at them both. Waves of anger and annoyance seemed to roll off the young narcissist as he simply stood there with his arms crossed. His presence alone over powered the two adults as they shrunk to the size of ants under his intense gaze, giving them the illusion that they were two children being reprimanded for doing something bad by their father.

"Will you all just get in the cars. We're already twenty minutes late."

"What about Masako and Yasu?" Monk asked, as I threw my bag in the back and closed the trunk to the van so that we could leave when Naru deemed so. He sighed at Monk's question and pinched the bridge of his nose. Already I knew that a migraine was forming in his already confined mind, and I piped in before he could snap at the poor unsuspecting soul and quite possibly make the ride even tenser then it already would be.

"Masako has a shoot near the beach and will be meeting us at the house. Also Yasu has a project he's finishing up. He said he'll look up information for us before meeting up later on in the case."

"Oh." He said, nodding in response to my answer.

"If you're all done now I would like to get going." Naru snapped, making us all jump a bit at the tone that he used.

"Sorry Naru!" we all said, quickly running off to our respective vehicles. As per usual, Ayako and John went in Monk's car as Lin, Naru and I headed for SPR's van.

"Mai, if you continue to be late then I will have to start deducting it from your pay." Naru said as he made his way to our mode of transportation. I simply rolled my eyes at his overused expression that, he never once acted on by the way, was really starting to get old and falling on deaf ears.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." I said, slipping into the back seat of the van as he and Lin got into the front. Immediately as we started to move the sound and feel of the van lulled me to close my eyes. Fighting to stay awake though I forced my eyes open, only to see that I was no longer in the van, but the black endless void of the dream world.

_"It's been a while." A familiar voice said, causing me to whip my head around and come face to face with a smiling replica of my crush/boss._

_"Gene! What are you doing here? I thought that you were at peace when Naru brought your body back to England." I said, running up to him and tackling him in a hug. Immediately he caught me and chuckled at my antics._

_"You'll find out soon, but that's not what I called you here for." He said, releasing his hold on me and keeping me at arm's length. I raised my brow at him in puzzlement, not quite getting what he meant._

_"Then what is it?" I asked, confused as to why he would call me here if it weren't to tell me why he was back in my dreams._

_"Look and see for yourself." He said, all smiling and happiness aside as a look of strict business took over his features, making him look exactly like his twin that I saw every day. He pointed off to the distance, and when I looked I saw that the scene had changed and that we were now at the bottom of a cove that had a small cliff like jump into a small pool of water. At the top of the cliff was a woman in a soft yellow kimono. Form what I could see she had brown hair that fell in soft waves to her waist and was staring emotionlessly into the pool of water below her._

_"What is she doing?" I asked Gene, looking over at him, only to frown and look back up to the woman. Before I could question him a soft voice echoed within the space we were in._

_"Why? Why did you do it? I thought we were best friends, so why?" _

_Realization dawned on me that it was the woman that was on the cliff that spoke. Something fell into the pool and created a ripple that stretched out to the edge of the pool. Before I knew it, another ripple was made, and another, and another, and before I knew it the woman's legs gave out as she collapse crying into her hand. A pang of sadness shot threw me as I watched this young woman at one of her lowest points in her life. Suddenly, she whipped her tears with the back of her hand and stood up with shaky legs. She took a step closer to the edge of the cliff with no expression on her features except pure defeat. As she took another step, her toes now hung over the edge of the cliff and it didn't take much to put together what it was she was about to do._

_"No, don't do it!" I exclaimed, getting ready to race off and get up to her to pull her back, only for Gene to grab my arm and shake his head. I looked at him in confusion only to see sad eyes staring back at me. _

_"It's already happened. You can't change anything." He said, making my heart drop as I heard the woman take another step and plunge into the water. Looking over I saw her claw at the water to try and reach the surface, but soon her struggle ended as well as the short life that she had lived. Not quite sure how to take seeing the suicide of a woman I hadn't even known, my legs gave out and I just stared at the water voidlessly. It wasn't until I felt a hand on my shoulder that I looked up from the woman's watery grave. Gene gave me a small encouraging smile as a light wrapped around our surroundings. "It's time to wake up now." And just like that I was jolted back into my body._

"Mai, wake up." A strong voice called, waking me from the grogginess of sleep. I groaned at the disturbance, but none the less I listened to it and got up stretching my arms up to the sky in the process. Opening my eyes I saw that it was Naru who had awoken me from my slumber.

"Hmmm, oh Naru, what's up?"

"We're here." He stated, instantly making me come from my semiconscious state to being completely awake and aware of my surroundings.

"Is Masako here yet?" I asked, looking for the girl who was always clad in her typical kimonos. While although we were, and I'm not quite sure if we still are, rivals in love for Naru's attention we had become quite close after the Urado case and formed a nice little friendship with one another over the past year of working with one another. Naru's brow rose at my question but shook his head in response.

"No, she'll be here in an hour or so."

"How do you know?" I questioned, wondering how he knew that while I didn't and I had been the last of the group to speak to her since we took the case. Naru rolled his eyes at me and crossed his arms in his typical fashion that always meant that he was about to make me feel like the idiot that he always called me.

"She called. Now grab some equipment to set up base."

"Yes sir!" I said, accepting his answer as I hopped out of the van and headed to the back where all the equipment was. Without much thought, I grabbed a monitor, only for it to be taken out of my hands. Looking beside me I saw Monk wink and clutch the monitor to his chest.

"Hey Jou-chan. I'll take that, you just take the shelves with Ayako and leave the monitors to Lin, John, and I?"

"It's alright. I am pretty strong after all."

"Suit yourself. So where's the owner?" he asked, watching as I picked up another monitor and headed to the door. He soon followed my lead as we got to the front door and I set down the monitor to get the key that Shen-san gave me the previous day.

"She said that she had a meeting to attend to and that her niece would be coming up to take of care the house later on today."

"Oh, so she trusted a house to strangers she just met. She doesn't sound like the brightest crayon in the box." Ayako said, making me sweatdrop at how I felt the same exact way. It's not that we would do anything like steal, but still the fact that she gave it to us for an empty house still made me worry a bit for the strange woman.

"Maybe she just has a really good sense of character?" John offered, looking just as confused as the rest of us as to the reasons she left us to our own devices.

"Maybe." I said, picking up the monitor once more when the door was unlocked and the key was back in my pocket.

"Well whatever, let's just get base set up." Ayako sighed, walking in before us with part of the shelving system for the monitors.

So far it's been two hours since we set up base, and everyone has gone off to work. Ayako was doing a little walk around to see if she could pick anything up in any of the rooms and had John accompanying her, Monk was looking for a floor plan to the building, Lin was on the lap-top as always looking up research and reading what Yasu had sent him via email, Naru was reading his little black book of doom, and I was stuck watching the monitors while fighting off drowsiness as always.

"Does anyone want tea?" I asked, getting up from my seat and stretching, looking for anything to do, even if it meant being a tea slave for Naru once again.

"Yes please." Lin said, bringing a smile to my lips.

"No prob Lin-san." With that I waited and looked over at Naru, waiting for him to actually respond to my question. Of course I already knew his answer was yes from the moment it left my lips, but still hearing a 'yes please', or even just a 'yes' would be most appreciated. However, this was Naru, and as I expected he simply looked up from his black book and raised a brow at me.

"What Mai?"

"Nothing Naru." I sighed, sweat dropping at myself for still thinking after all this time being with Naru that he would actually say 'please' or 'thank you' to me. Dejectedly, I headed to the door only to pause when Naru called out to me.

"Oh Mai."

"Yes Naru?"

"When you come back go with Takigawa and take the temperatures of the rooms." He said, not even looking up from his book to look at me.

"Yes sir." I sighed, turning around only to bump into a hard chest.

"Hang on Mai, I'll go with and we can do temp first and then bring Mr. Crabby pants over there his tea." Monk said, walking in at just the right time with the floor plans in his hand. Quickly he handed them off to Lin and then took me out of the room as he snatched the clip board and thermometer from the coffee table.

"Thanks Monk, works for me." I said, glad that he was done with his part and that I would now be able to engage in some conversations that wouldn't end in me being upset, feeling like an absolute idiot, or wanting to put poison in Naru's tea.

"So when do you think Masako's gonna get here?" He asked, catching me off guard by his random question. Taking a moment I thought and eventually shrugged my shoulders remembering that Naru said that she would be here within the hour since we had gotten here.

"Dunno, could be at any time."

"Hmmm, I see." We lapsed into a bit of silence as we went from room to room measuring the temp until he looked at me with an accusing eye. "You two have gotten pretty close since Naru left haven't you?"

"Yeah. Before he came back we would meet up once a week and have a girl's night. Ayako sometimes tagged along, but most of the time it was just us." I explained, reminiscing about all the times we had bonded and grown closer. We really were like sister, her and I, and I was very happy that we had moved on past our rivalry to be able to get to that point.

"So now that Naru's back are you two gonna be rivals again?" he asked, voicing one of the questions that had been on my mind since his return. Masako and I hadn't really discussed the topic and ever since I told her what happened at the lake where we found Gene's body she had a slight distaste for the guy.

"I dunno. She said that she really doesn't care for him anymore, but who knows. I just hope we stay friends." As if speaking of the devil, I hear a car door close and assumed that it was her. "Oh that must be her now."

"Here, you get the door, and I'll finish up with the temp readings." Monk offered, causing a smile to break out on my lips.

"Thanks Monk." I said, handing him the clipboard and racing down the stairs. In a matter of seconds I had reached the front door and threw it open to welcome her. "Hey, it's about time you got here Masa-"

"Mai?" a voice cut me off, making me stop and stare at the girl in front of me. My eyes widened as I looked into two pools of bright amber that reflected the same shock and confusion that was mirrored in mine. Quickly realization kicked in as my mind processed and recognized the stranger that was currently in front of me.

"Kaguya?" I asked, completely bewildered as to what she was doing here. Then at the same exact time the only question that seemed to logically fit in this situation blurted from both of our mouths.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"

**Naru: Another chapter, and it was longer….**

**Gene: Good job.**

**Me: Thank you. ^_^**

**Mai: Please Review everyone!**


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